Me who was the Older Brother, and the Girl who was my little sister. - Chapter 13 (The Boy who was the Older Brother)
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- Me who was the Older Brother, and the Girl who was my little sister.
- Chapter 13 (The Boy who was the Older Brother)
The Boy who was the Older Brother
It was just before summer and a cool breeze grazed my cheek.
On a beautiful day, Saki and I walked through the busy streets of the city.
With the end of the shoot for the last episode of that drama, Saki’s busy days ended temporarily and she was allowed to rest for the time being, so she decided to go out with me like this.
“Isn’t the weather nice today, Kousuke-san?”
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
Saki smiles happily while walking right next to me, holding my hand as if she was my lover. Saki looked prettier than usual, wearing just faint make-up. She wore neither a hat nor a mask, i.e., she wasn’t hiding her identity.
Of course, when she showed off like that, the people around her recognised her as the famous actress Saki Yanegawa. Reactions varied, some took pictures with their smartphones from a distance and others tagged along but Saki didn’t seem to care at all.
Fortunately, they understood that she wasn’t working right now, she was ‘in-private’ and hence people did not address her openly. They could only guess who I, the man beside her, was.
(TLN: I can’t really imagine this working out irl. If a celeb gets recognised, most people ignore this ‘in-private’ part and still annoy the shit out of them…Maybe not in Japan? But still…) (ED/n: Agreed)
But, I wasn’t used to the gazes of people like Saki, I wasn’t able to calm down having all these eyes on me.
“Let’s go somewhere, I can’t really relax…”
“You’re right. Let’s look for a place where we can relax.”
I suggested entering one of the surrounding establishments to escape from the crowd. Saki agreed and looked for places where the people were sparse.
As we were looking around, we bumped into a group of high school girls. They were chatting happily with each other but upon noticing us, they approached us right away.
“Umm, are you perhaps Saki Yanagawa? I’ve seen that drama!”
“I’m a fan! Please let me shake your hand!”
“Can we take pictures with you?”
It seems these girls were more on the talkative side as they didn’t hesitate to address us. Saki responded professionally, having a prepared smile on her face.
“Thank you! But I’m sorry, as you can see here, my ‘hands are full right now’.” TL/NThat’s the expression literally, but a dictionary will say “I’m busy”. In this context, since she’s holding Kousuke’s hand and showing their hand-holding off, I put out the literal translation
Saying that Saki showed off our intertwined hands. This kind of thing was apparently enough to excite girls in their youthful period filled with interest in love and romance.
“Kyaa!”
“Is this perhaps your lover?”
“That’s so nice! I wanna have a boyfriend too!”
Thanks to these high-pitched voices, we found ourselves suddenly being surrounded. We had already stood out before but no we were even more conspicuous.
I hurriedly pulled Saki’s hand and ran, looking for a place with fewer people.
“Hah, hah, hah… what the heck are you doing!”
“Fu, fufu, hahaha”
We eventually reached a rather quiet residential area and while breathing heavily I questioned Saki but she started to laugh loudly, as if she was amused by something.
“Ah, no, I’m sorry. I was just so happy, fufu”
“Hah? Is that so?”
I replied in a rather angry tone but Saki remained happy and smiled. Seeing that, I couldn’t muster up the strength to say anything.
Saki started to smile more often compared to before. It wasn’t a moderate or fake smile, it was one appropriate for a girl at her age, just like the girl who she had been before entering the entertainment industry, it was that kind of smile.
This just shows that she was truly happy there.
I should feel happy as well without any worries.
But I couldn’t help it and was feeling conflicted about Saki regaining her smile by rejecting us being siblings, by rejecting being my little sister.
“…Are you really content with this?”
“Content? I’m not. Our story has just started after all.”
I actually didn’t mean to ask Saki, I just muttered this question to myself. Saki just overheard it and gave me an answer that wouldn’t allow me to hesitate.
Feeling surprised by her immediate answer, I looked at Saki’s face. Her eyes were filled with a strong sense of determination and were piercing right through me.
It’s just like that time.
That time, when the drama shoot ended she made an announcement.
That time, when she officially announced that she was in a relationship with a ‘certain person’.
It was a sudden announcement and caused quite an uproar. The reporters present at that time immediately asked for the identity of that person but Saki refused to reveal further details, she just mentioned that it was an ordinary person and requested to leave it at that.
Needless to say, the office Saki was affiliated with had been already informed of this announcement. They even know who it was and his true identity.
They tried to persuade Saki against it, time and time again.
But Saki’s will did not waver even once. She declared that she’d keep following this path even if her career ended and people talked behind her back for the rest of her life.
So the office gave in and asked Saki to at least keep the true identity of her partner a secret. After all, if that information leaked out, Saki’s career would truly end.
Not only would Saki fall, but the office would lose one of their biggest earners. In addition to that, they’d all face harsh public criticism for hiding this secret until now.
Because of all these circumstances, the office used its influence to prevent TV and magazines from capitalising on the news of Saki’s love life and let it fade out instead.
Thus, the true identity of Saki’s lover was still unknown to the public.
And yet… Saki keeps repeating risky stunts like this one, as if she wants everyone to know about it…., as if she is against letting people forget about this.
“…What will you do if it gets leaked out because of this?”
“If that happens, let’s run away, just the two of us.”
Saki replied while giggling.
It may sound like a joke but I knew it wasn’t one. You may call it a skill I’ve acquired as her brother, which is rather ironic.
We were already on SNS and people were wondering if I was this unknown partner of hers.
“Don’t say something stupid. Also, didn’t we make the promise to keep this a secret?”
“Of course, we’ll keep this a secret.”
“Your words don’t match your actions though…”
“Our viewpoints are slightly different. The office isn’t trying to hide our relationship but Kousuke-san’s identity.”
“…”
“Someone who doesn’t know anything will not figure out that Kousuke-san is actually my brother.”
Morals are losing to reality it seems.
The expression ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ felt rather fitting here.
No one would even dream that Saki’s partner was actually her brother. Siblings being in a relationship with each other goes against morals after all.
Hence I’m only known as the “unknown boyfriend” online and not as Saki’s brother, which would go against all morals.
This way, I will slowly change from “the brother” to “the man who was the brother.”
I already can’t tell which of them I am for real.
I could only laugh at myself these days, as it was more convenient to act as her lover than to act as her brother.
Is this what dad was talking about? ‘To pretend to be something you are not’?
(TLN: Check out Ch5, Part 2)
I felt like I knew the answer in my heart.
“Nii-san”
Saki called me. I thought she’d never call me like that again.
I looked at Saki’s face and she took that moment to kiss me in surprise.
“—tsu.. Oi, although there isn’t anyone around us right now, what will you do if we get seen by someone?”
I grabbed Saki’s shoulder and pushed her away from me. Saki showed me a face that seemed like she was melting and replied:
“—It’s not something we should mind, right? Nee, Kousuke-san.”
When was the last time I heard these words from my little sister? We were still siblings then and this would have been shrugged off as a bad prank but now it’s different.
Since when did this woman plan all of this out? Was it from the very beginning? TL/NTook me a while to figure it out. So basically, he’s saying that Saki’s current actions were something he was able to shrug off as pranks back then when they were just kids but now he wonders if she had planned to become his lover since the first time she played this prank on him. Ch4, Pt2. Which makes sense, since she asked him to kiss her or quit going to high school. She managed to obtain both
“Please be the one who initiates it next time, Kousuke-san.”
Saki puts her arms around my neck and closes her eyes. She won’t let me go and was ready to accept it so I kissed Saki myself this time. I’m not able to confirm if this was of my own volition or not.
“—tsu. Hah, I love you. I love you! Kousuke! I love you so much!”
“…Yeah, me too, Saki.”
Thus, the brother who had been me and the girl who had been the little sister kissed for a third time.
Translator:
The next and last one. All of it will be Saki’s POV and is going to be a long one… Oof.